The invention relates to inspections in general and in particular to inspection apparatuses having insertion tubes for carrying out inspections.
Inspection apparatuses such as visual inspection apparatuses, eddy current sensing apparatuses, and ultrasonic sensing apparatuses are subject to being damaged or degraded during use. Many such apparatuses include elongated probes, otherwise known as insertion tubes for fitting into remote areas, such as remote areas of equipment articles, naturally occurring geographic formations and other cavernous bodies. Such insertion tubes become contacted with the walls of the bodies they are inserted into when they are inserted and removed from such bodies. When contacted, the insertion tubes are subject to damage from externally located bodies.
In many instances, insertion tubes have an internally disposed rigid structure. For example in one embodiment, an elongated helical shaped “monocoil” metal member can be disposed within an elongated insertion probe for providing crush resistance thereto. Other insertion tubes can include rigid metallic structures for providing manually controlled bending of an insertion tube. Some insertion tubes are known to include bending necks whose bending can be controlled by manual input control of an operator. Insertion tube bending necks can comprise a series of disks (washers) disposed such that bending can be controlled by the spacing and the angle between various ones of the disks.
Insertion tubes are subject to being damaged not only by forces imparted by exterior located bodies but also by forces imparted by rigid interior structure of an insertion tube, such as crush resistance providing structures and structures for allowing bending of an insertion tube.
If an insertion tube wall becomes punctured, a number of problems can occur. Notably, moist air or particulate can invade an insertion tube and propagate through a device including control circuitry and other component. Shortings of electrical circuit components have been observed.